Gaara's Journey Chapter Four
by Fluvial
Summary: Gaara's father and siblings attempt to help Gaara recover from his injury, but Gaara is extremely difficult about it.


7

The rest of the day went on fairly normal, except for the horrific ten minutes that Kankuro suffered through as he helped/forced Gaara to use the toilet. Then there was the matter of further sanitation.

"You can't keep wearing that outfit Gaara," Temari informed him.

"Why?" he asked, even though he had a pretty good idea already.

"Just look at it. It's all torn up and covered with dirt, vomit, and blood."

Kish moaned for the 400th time that day. "We should have taken care of that while we knocked him up a few hours ago!"

"Well we didn't Dad, and now we have to do something about it. Those rags are a breeding ground for disease."

Kankuro poked his head out of the kitchen eating a cucumber. "I don't think he has any other clothes."

"Don't be stupid," Kish continued in his mopey voice. "There's a box full of his stuff right over there."

Temari looked over to where he was pointing. She didn't see anything significant. She narrowed her eyes. "Where?"

Kish sighed angrily as if he'd been asked to do something difficult. "Right there!

Temari stomped over. There were several boxes stacked against a wall, and about a dozen clocks hanging on the wall right above them. "You didn't put any labels on these boxes, Dad."

"Yes I did, I'm sure I did," he said rubbing his temples. "Ohhh, I have such a headache."

Then he looked over at Gaara to see if he was doing any better. Gaara was looking him right in the eye in pure hatred.

"So, what do you think you'll be doing once you get back on your feet?"

"I have no reason to tell you."

Kish stroked his chin. "Well, I don't know, I'm kind of interested since I'm your father."

"That isn't a reason."

In the following second there was an enormous crash.

"What did you do?" Kish roared.

Temari threw a fishing rod across the room in deep disgust. "I don't even have any room to sort this Dad!"

"Just throw them where ever you want, I don't care anymore."

Temari just started opening all the boxes. "Here, I found it."

Kish sat up. "You hear that Gaara?"

Gaara wouldn't even shift his head.

"Um, Dad," Temari said.

"Hm?"

Temari held up one of the garments. "Look at this!" She grabbed a handful and started waving them around. "He can't wear these!"

"Are you sure?"

Temari didn't even bother answering. Instead she starting making her way to her and Kankuro's room. The shack had two tiny bedrooms that were just a step above a walk-in closet. Kish took one and Temari and Kankuro were forced to share the other. Kish almost never got up the strength to get off the couch at night, but that didn't mean that anyone else could use his room. Temari opened the closet and dragged out one of Kankuro's jumpsuits.

Kankuro stood in the doorway. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know what else to do Kankuro."

"Just go to some clothes store."

Temari slapped her forehead and shot Kankuro a look. "Look, there's nothing else I can do, I'm sick of stealing stuff. One of these days we're going to get caught." Then she threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "Why do you care anyway?"

"I don't. But they'll be way too big."

Temari shook her head, "That really doesn't matter Kankuro."

Gaara was suffering through Kish's pathetic attempts to talk to him, so his mood didn't improve a bit when he saw his siblings coming towards him with Kankuro's jumpsuit.

"Hi Gaara," Kankuro started uneasily.

"What do you want?" he asked, eyeing the clothes.

"You already know," Temari snapped. "Just cooperate so we can get this done."

"I can dress myself."

Kankuro looked relieved. "You hear that, he can do it himself."

Temari made a face, "Are you being funny? You can barely move." Then she stepped over an end table and threw the jumpsuit at Kish.

Kish's eyes popped out. "Whaddya giving it to me for?"

"Well I'm not going to do it."

Kish and Kankuro looked at each other.

In the end, they had to make him take him two more pain potions again.

When Gaara woke up he felt groggy. For once Kish wasn't on the couch and he didn't know where his brother and sister were. The house was quiet. He realized that he had Kankuro's clothes on – which were swimming on him – but that wasn't all he noticed. There, placed under his arm was a purple teddy bear. One that his father had bought him years ago. He took it by the arm and held it out in front of his face. For one fraction of a second he felt the tiniest hint of a desire to hug it. Then his face crinkled like a prune. He grinded his teeth and threw the bear as hard as he could.

The toy soared through the air and made contact with an extremely unstable pile of junk which was piled up to the ceiling. It barely wobbled before it all came down: books, papers, cup coasters, picture frames, scrolls, eviction notices and all. The noise it made was deafening. Kish ran out of the corroded bathroom in his bathroom.

"_What in the name of chakra!" _he cried right before he slipped on one of the papers, his leg flying straight up. He skidded six inches across the floor and smacked against another pile which consisted of generalized rubbish and old machine parts. _"Noooooo! PLEASE!" _he cried out as he put his hands out in front of him.

When Kankuro ran in, all he could see of his father was a white hand sticking out.

"Dad…"

The garbage began to shake as Kish reared his ugly head. Sucker sticks and packing peanuts were stuck in his hair. He made a drawn out gurgling sound as he rose up.

"Dad," Kankuro quaked, "Are you ok?"

Kish looked at him in astonishment. _"Does it look like I'm ok? _Then he threw his head in every direction showing most of his teeth. "How did that happen?"

Kankuro rubbed the back of his neck. "Well Dad, I don't know, but I'm sure it was an accident."

At that moment, Kish looked down. In the mist of all the destruction, he saw the purple teddy bear. He snatched it off the floor with such savagery that Gaara slumped as much as he was able. Kish's eyes fell on Gaara. He shook the teddy bear around. "You throw this?"

Gaara slowly and carefully folded his arms. "I can throw what I want."

Kish closed his eyes and started rubbing his temples again. He didn't know what to do. He had no strength left so it didn't seem like a good idea to be intimidating. The first time he'd gotten lucky, but he didn't want to try it now.

"Look Gaara, you have to be careful about throwing things in this house."

"Obviously. This repulsive dump heap is a hazard to anyone who steps in it," Gaara sniffed. "Now leave me alone, I'm tired."

A little later they got him to eat and he allowed Kish to take his temperature. It was late in the evening and everyone was getting ready for bed. Kish painfully approached Gaara after they'd turned off most of the lamps. "Are you warm enough?"

"Yes."

Kish stared at the stack of pillows that were propping him up. "Do you want me to take some of those so you can lay down more?"

"No."

"I'll be really slow and gentle, it won't hurt," Kish assured him.

"I said no!"

Kish stepped back and tried to think of something else he should do. "Are you sure you're warm enough, because I could get you an extra blanket…"

"All I want is for you to get out of my sight!"

Kish looked hurt which made Gaara feel funny. He didn't know why. Kish walked away, stepping over his junk, but he came right back a few minutes later with a particularly thick quilt. He laid it across Gaara and took a few of the pillows out from behind him.

A terrifying grimace traced itself on Gaara's face. He started to pull the blanket off, but then he stopped. He went to look at Kish again, but he was gone.


End file.
